A
former U.S. Border Patrol Agent (BPA) was sentenced to 114 months in
prison followed by three years of supervised release for accepting
bribes in return for helping to smuggle illegal drugs into the United
States.

Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice
Department’s Criminal Division, U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Patrick for the
Southern District of Texas, Special Agent in Charge Perrye Turner of the
FBI’s Houston Field Office and Special Agent in Charge Juan Benavides
of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Office of Professional
Responsibility (OPR) made the announcement.

Robert Hall, 45, of La Feria,Texas, a former BPA, was
sentenced by U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. of the Southern
District of Texas, who also ordered Hall to pay a fine in the amount of
$20,000. Hall pleaded guilty to one count of bribery on Sept. 14, 2018,
which was unsealed today.

According to the plea documents, between 2004 and 2014, Hall, working with others including Daniel Hernandez,
46, of Roseville, California, facilitated the trafficking of illegal
drugs, including marijuana, into the United States from Mexico on behalf
of a drug trafficking organization (DTO). In exchange for cash
payments, he provided an individual in the DTO with CBP sensor
locations, the locations of unpatrolled roads at or near the U.S.-Mexico
border, the number of BPAs working in a certain area, keys to unlock
CBP locks located on gates to ranch fences along the border and CBP
radios. In total, Hall accepted over $50,000 in cash from the DTO in
exchange for using his position as a BPA to enable the DTO’s drug
shipments to cross the border into Texas without law enforcement
detection.

Daniel Hernandez pleaded guilty Feb. 5 to one count of conspiracy to
bribe a public official before U.S. Magistrate Judge Nancy K. Johnson in
the Southern District of Texas. Sentencing has been scheduled for May
9, before U.S. District Judge Gray H. Miller, who accepted the plea on
Feb. 8.

The FBI investigated the case with the assistance of CBP OPR. Trial
Attorneys Rebecca Moses and Peter M. Nothstein of the Criminal
Division’s Public Integrity Section and Assistant U.S. Attorney Julie N.
Searle of the Southern District of Texas are prosecuting the case.

Comments:
2004 to 2014 10yrs for $50K+ So who was his accountant? $5K a year on average. Somebody got a good deal from this guy. What did the BPA do from 2014 to present day? It looks like I will be able to claim a couple more people as Dependents on my next yrs. Tax returns. oh well...........

Posted by USMC66'- at 3/10/2019 4:53:44 PM

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